Why this thread? It's a place to avoid 28 separate newbie threads on the subject, a place to keep track of other teams making progress on this front, and a place to track the final days, hours and minutes till the Big Announcement, or the drop dead silence when it passes as the Revs permanently become the sole remaining vestige of MLS 1.0, playing in an ill suited NFL outpost and strip mall.

Devil's advocate, Simms over Joseph was an upgrade until a couple weeks ago, and probably will be again. And Sene, despite his increasingly-obvious flaws, is a clear upgrade from the glue factory we fielded last year.

Click to expand...

Ok, I'll give you that Simms is better than Shalrie/Phelan. I'm not seeing the striker play, on the whole, any better than what they had last year. Sure, Sene is maybe better than all of the others, but his partnerships this season have been dreadful at best. All of the strikers last year were better than Brettschneider.

I think the right wing play was better last year, especially with Zerka.

I'm not doubting that the potential for progression is there. This team certainly seems to have a higher ceiling than last year. But until any of that potential is realized, this team is really no better off than it was.

Shirt sponsor: Yes, there is one. However this has to be the most anemic partnership in the league. The Timbers have a plane. Chicago got Quaker Oats to promote them all over Chicago. Can you think of anything (I mean, seriously, anything) that United Healthcare has done to cross-promote? I can't. The smoking ban at Gillette is a partnership with Tufts Health Plan, not United Healthcare. Their names are on the shirt, and that seems to be about it. What's the point? Where's the dynamism?

Being last let's us see what other teams have done wrong..and learn from that, right?

I mean, think of what we can learn from MLS stalwart success stories Portland, Toronto and KC? =)

Click to expand...

I still find it amusing to think about 3/4 years ago when our FO told us that these new teams learned from the Revs' (and other older teams) mistakes. Just curious when the Revs will learn from their own?

Playing in Gillete Stadium guarantees Kraft will at least break even on Revs.

Click to expand...

This assumes that several things occur , such as - 1) he continues to operate the on-field product on the cheap, meaning we will never sign any truly big players, the kind that could move the needle on attendance by virtue of their name, or have one of the larger team salaries in the league. I don't know where we are now, but I remember reading an article on ESPN before the season that we had the lowest payroll in the league. 2) That attendance doesn't drop to late-1990s Kansas City levels. 3) That he can attract big soccer events, like US-Spain or ManU-Revs. I don't doubt that Gillette will still see one of those here and there, but our stock has dropped a lot in regards to the big events vs. where we used to be.

The sad thing, however, is that it seems like breaking even with this team is the organization's only concern. Figuring out a way to build an urban stadium, or getting 20,000-plus sized crowds to Gillette, would be an indication that they actually wanted to be leaders and do more than just break even and were willing to spend some money to do it.

3) That he can attract big soccer events, like US-Spain or ManU-Revs. I don't doubt that Gillette will still see one of those here and there, but our stock has dropped a lot in regards to the big events vs. where we used to be.

Click to expand...

As long as Sunil Gulati is running the show at the USSF, Gillette will be on the map for big soccer events. The Spain friendly was here despite all that's wrong here. The state of the Revs has no bearing on this at all.

3)
The sad thing, however, is that it seems like breaking even with this team is the organization's only concern. Figuring out a way to build an urban stadium, or getting 20,000-plus sized crowds to Gillette, would be an indication that they actually wanted to be leaders and do more than just break even and were willing to spend some money to do it.

Click to expand...

The longer time (and the status quo) the more I'm convinced ownership doesn't see this all as anything more than a summer date-filler, despite seeing what can happen in Seattle and Portland.

The longer time (and the status quo) the more I'm convinced ownership doesn't see this all as anything more than a summer date-filler, despite seeing what can happen in Seattle and Portland.

Click to expand...

Please don't take this as trolling; it's not meant to be:
This is what I don't understand. I get the bottom line, but how can he see what's been happening with the expansion teams since Toronto - not to mention the new RBA - and not say to himself, "I want to be a part of that. I want that here." Even if it's not a SSS, surely his ego would goad him into trying to replicate what's happening in Seattle. And even if it's not Kraft, himself, is there not someone in the soccer portion of the organization that has some inflence?

Please don't take this as trolling; it's not meant to be:
This is what I don't understand. I get the bottom line, but how can he see what's been happening with the expansion teams since Toronto - not to mention the new RBA - and not say to himself, "I want to be a part of that. I want that here." Even if it's not a SSS, surely his ego would goad him into trying to replicate what's happening in Seattle. And even if it's not Kraft, himself, is there not someone in the soccer portion of the organization that has some inflence?

Click to expand...

Kraft has spent 17 years surrounding himself with yes-men.

And please don't worrying about being thought of as a troll. Your calm objective detached rationale makes far too much sense for any of the nonsense happening here in New England. That isn't your fault. The only trolls around here are the people who keep telling us everything is great.